Avatar: The First Paladin (work in progress)
by DJ-7.5
Summary: War is all the world has known for a hundred years. Peace seems like a child's fantasy, but Lance is still a child at heart. He believes it's possible; Keith is a bit more pessimistic. After all, it's hard to remain hopeful when the fate of world rests on your shoulders. Such is the lot of the Avatar. And yet this strange band of misfits makes him think...perhaps it's possible.
1. Prologue

Air

Water

Earth

Fire

My grandfather used to tell me stories of the old days. A time of peace, when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But all that changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar could master all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless Firebenders; but when the world needed him most, he vanished.

A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago my father and the other men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my sisters to look after our tribe, though I hope to be joining the others soon.

Some people believe that the Avatar was never born into the Earth Kingdom, and that the cycle was broken. But I haven't lost hope. I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.


	2. Chapter 1

Hello there, all!

To anyone who have read my other stories and are waiting for an update: I'm really sorry, but it doesn't look like there's going to be any. I really have no excuse for it, I'm just lazy, though after a while I kinda lost interest in them. Imay go back at a later date, but for right now they're on indefinite hold.

With that out of the way, please enjoy this new story that I promise to stick with and finish if you all enjoy it. (I can say that with confidence because I now have A:TLA on DVD and am in the process of watching it through for the thousandth time.)

Also, important question here: do you guys want to see Lotor be redeemed and become a good guy, or do want him to stay a villain?

Tell me in the reviews!

Now, without further ado, shall we play a game?

—

"Breath slowly. In through the nose, out through the mouth."

Shiro's words came like an echo returning from far away, as they so often did in recent days. Even while he was gone, his nagging voice just couldn't leave Keith alone, could it? Any time he thought he was meditating perfectly, there always seemed to be something he was doing wrong. It was only after a year of this that he had realized Shiro was just messing with him. Keith smirked at the memory, then took another breath of the crisp morning air.

The wind tussled the young bender's hair as if to greet him. Airbender children practiced and played in the buildings above and around him. The sound of their laughter echoed across the canyon before returning to where Keith sat at the edge of the first of three platforms that displayed great masters of the past. Shiro had once told Keith that meditating in the presence of ancient Airbenders would help him to meditate deeper and activate his Avatar State, but even after years of trying, he still couldn't reach that far.

It frustrated him to no end. He was supposed to be the almighty Avatar, master of all elements, bridge to the Spirit World, and keeper of the peace, yet here he was, barely anywhere close to being an Airbending master and still halfway to mastering Fire; his native element no less! Not to mention the fact that there was a century-long war going on and he was doing nothing about it except meditating and hoping that he might unlock his Avatar State before everyone in the world died! Why was he cooped up in the temple when he should be out smacking some sense into the Fire Nation? He should be doing something!

"Keith!"

Keith sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes flew open. He was breathing fast and raggedly, and his fingernails were digging into his palms. He uncurled his hands to find deep indents in the skin, some almost bleeding. The teen gave a heavy sigh and hung his head. It was those harsh thoughts that kept him from going deeper into meditation. Keith had always had a bad temper; one of his many, many defects that his guardian liked to make fun of. With Shiro's help, he had gotten better about controlling it, but it was so much harder when the elder wasn't around.

"Wish you were here,"He muttered mournfully

"Avatar Keith!"

He looked up sharply to see a Nomad descending on his Flying Bison.

"You've been requested to go to the monks' chamber as soon as possible," he called, his face and tone grave.

Keith rose to his feet instantly,"What's going on?"

"I don't know, but the summons came from Master Iverson," the man replied, then rode off.

The young Avatar wasted no time in running up the stone stairs that led to the inner tunnels of the temple. Something about this set him on edge. Iverson never asked to see him unless something bad happened, and never in the monks' chamber. It made him think ' Shiro just left a week ago and this happens?' Keith prayed that he was wrong. But fate had a way of being cruel.

Upon arriving in the chamber, he found all the head masters and the monks. The atmosphere was tense, making Keith's stomach knot as he prepared for the worst. Just as he was about to say something, the curtain behind him opened and a woman with short, caramel-colored hair that was beginning to lose its vibrancy entered, followed closely by, presumably, her daughter.

"Keith, Coleen, Katie," Monk Tanaka greeted,"Thank you all for coming so quickly."

"What's all this about?" The younger girl asked, looking as anxious as Keith felt.

Monk Haru let out a long breath,"As you know,Shiro,Samuel, and young Mathew were sent on a scouting mission one week ago. We were supposed to receive messages from them daily, but as of a few days ago, we have acquired no such letter."

Keith's breath hitched a little as Monk Kuro continued,"Yesterday morning we sent out a search and rescue squad to their last known location, but we were too late."

"No," Coleen whispered, her hands flying to her mouth. At the same time Katie yelled,"That's not possible!"

"There must have been a mistake," Keith jumped in,"Shiro's one of the best fighters we have!"

"Well, clearly the Fire Nation soldiers were better," Master Sonda, a particularly harsh woman, snapped,"I went with the search team myself. The campsite was burned to a crisp and their bison was dead. There is no other way to see it."

Keith's mind swirled in disbelief, pain and rage growing with every word the elder woman spoke, and it seemed Katie was heading the same way. It was taking every ounce of his self control to not outright attack Sonda just to make her be quiet.

"However," Monk Tanaka's kind voice made Keith look up from glaring a hole into the floor,"Since there were no bodies, we cannot be certain that they are dead. It is more likely that they were taken prisoner."

"Is that supposed to make us feel better?" Katie muttered spitefully.

Keith silently agreed with her as he said,"So what are we waiting for? We should send out search parties and find them. They can't have gotten far in just a few days."

"Keith, I know what you must be feeling right now," said Master Iverson,"But we can't. The place Shiro's party was attacked was dangerously close to us. The Fire Nation may finally be ready to attack, and if they do we'll need every Airbender's help to defeat them."

Keith wanted to say something, anything, to contradict all that was just said, but nothing came out. All the teen could do was storm out of the room and begin wandering down the stone halls. Preparing was the sensible move. It was the the smart move. It was safest the move.

But Keith wasn't known for being all that safe.

He broke into a run toward his room as a plan began to form in this head. It was not at all thought out, and nowhere near fool-proof, but he was willing to do just about anything to get Shiro back. And no one was going to get in his way.

—

Late that night Keith sat on his bed, his travel pack beside him full of his belongings, food rations, and money. It would soon be midnight, the perfect time to make his move; leave the temple and find Shiro. He had briefly considered asking that Katie girl to come with him, (after all, two members of her family were missing as well) but decided against it. Their angers combined would have most likely spelled disaster for the both of them. It would be better if he went alone.

Keith's leg bounced impatiently as he waited, mentally planning out each step of his journey. A bison would be too conspicuous, so he would need to take a glider instead, and since Shiro's team had headed Southeast toward the coast-

A knock sounded at the door,"Keith? Are you still up?"

Keith was quick to stuff his bag in a corner, then turned around just in time to see Master Iverson enter. Upon spotting the young Avatar standing in the middle of the room with a sour expression and arms crossed, he cleared his throat nervously and said,"Ah. I thought you might be awake."

"What do you want, Master?" Keith restrained the amount of venom he wanted so desperately to put into his voice, settling on a more annoyed tone. He expected the reply to be something along the lines of 'Don't take that tone of voice with me!' as it usually was when Keith mouthed off. But to his surprise, Iverson simply seemed tired.

"Look, I understand you want to find them," said the master, now appearing very old,"Believe it or not, so do I. However, we simply cannot afford to send out men when the threat of attack is so close," he let out a heavy sigh as Keith turned away, not wanting to listen,"I know I can't stop you," Keith turned around, surprise clear on his face as Iverson stepped forward,"You've always been stubborn, hotheaded, reckless, impudent…frankly, I don't know how Shiro ever put up with you. You always managed to find the most annoying way to contradict my orders and my teaching," a large hand rested on Keith's shoulder,"But, you also have a good heart, and a solid head on your shoulders. So I trust you. Just be careful, okay?"

Keith was rather taken aback by this. Never in all his years did he think these words would come out Iverson's mouth. It was odd, yet for some reason his knowing about Keith's plan was comforting, in a way.

"Oh, I almost forgot," the master reached around to his back and produced a glider staff, handing it to Keith. It was quite beaten up, with scratch marks most everywhere and a few singed areas. What caught the teen's attention the most, however, was the engraving near the top.

'Patience yields focus.'

Keith's heart nearly stopped.

Shiro's words. This was his staff.

"Where…h-how did…"

Iverson cut off his blubbering,"It was found a short distance from the campsite. I figured he would want you to have it."

No words could express what Keith felt in that moment. It was an unusual whirlpool of emotions that made him almost helpless to the current. After a moment, he collected himself and choked out,"Thank you."

Iverson's smile was genuine,"You're welcome."

Suddenly the room shook violently, knocking the two off balance and sending a small shower of dust and rocks onto them. All it took was brief eye contact between master and student before they both rushed out of the room, Keith quickly grabbing his bag. When they got outside, it was chaos. Firebenders were everywhere, repelling over the cliff face and destroying everything in sight. But the greatest shock of all was seeing a giant metal contraption floating in the air within the canyon, firing rocks and bursts of flame into the temple.

"What in the name of Avatar Way-Jin is that!?" Iverson hollered above the noise. Keith was about to reply when he heard a shrill cry. He looked toward the main courtyard on his right to see a group of children trying and failing to defend themselves from a group of Firebenders. His anger flared up, and when Iverson turned to tell him to run, he found Keith already flying toward the soldiers.

"Get out while you can," he called back. Iverson shook his head ruefully, then ran to help the evacuation.

On the courtyard, a boy in the group sent out an air blast that knocked a few men back, but by no means halted their attacks. Just as they were about to attack, Keith landed, striking the staff upon the stone and sending out a massive gust of air, blasting most of the soldiers clear off the platform. Those that remained were decisively taken out with a few swings of Keith's staff. The children were awestruck, and would have stayed that way had their savior not ushered them into the tunnels with the adults.

With them safe, Keith's attention was again captured by cries of pain, this time from above him. He shot up and instantly took out two soldiers with dual kicks. Again the people were saved, and again Keith escorted them to the tunnels. This pattern continued several more times, becoming progressively harder and harder as he took hits, all the while trying to ignore the cries of sky bison as they attempted to fly away, only to be shot down.

Finally Keith seemed to have cleared out all the levels of both Fire and Airbenders. He leaned against the wall a moment to catch his breath; an action that proved unwise as he was nearly set on fire by new platoon. He wasted no time firing back, but it was poorly aimed and did very little. A fire blast clipped his shoulder as he tried to run, sending him to the ground. He clutched the wound and used his staff to stand, only to find himself surrounded. Keith grit his teeth and prepared for the attack, when a gust of air blew away half of the soldiers. He turned to see Master Sonda just as she repeated her attack on the second half, then rushed in, grabbed Keith's shirt, and began to drag him to safety.

"I knew you were impulsive," she panted,"But this is just getting ridiculous."

They ducked into the doorway of an abandoned living quarters to hide and rest, Sonda peeking around the corner to spy on the soldiers below.

"Only about seven," whispered the master,"we should be able to get past them…"

As Keith knelt there panting, he happened to notice the way she favored one leg over the other, along with many cuts, burns, and bruises.

"Master, are you okay?" he asked.

She hesitated before answering,"Yes. Now, let's-gah!"

Sonda suddenly went to collapse, Keith quick to catch and lower her to the ground. It was then that he noticed a large wound in her stomach that was gushing blood.

"You are definitely not fine," Keith swiftly laid her down on her back as the elder Airbender began to cough hoarsely, a thin trail of red leaking down the corner of her mouth. The teen attempted to use his hands to stop the flow, but it wasn't doing as much as he'd hoped it would, and he noticed Sonda's eyes getting unnaturally glossy.

"No, no, no," repeated Keith under his breath,"Stay with me, stay with me…c'mon, c'mon."

"…Keith…" Sonda called weakly.

He was quick to reply,"I'm right here, Master, just hold on."

"Keith, listen to me," she said with more urgency, making Keith pause,"I'm not going to make it, so stop pretending that I am," the teen's heart sank a bit. Even if she had been the most aggravating part of living in the temple, he didn't want her to die. Weakly, Sonda reached up and unfastened her cloak, Keith helping her sit up a little so she could get it out from under herself,"Take this…disappear…master the elements…restore balance."

Keith looked from his master to the cloak and back again,"No, we can get out of here together, we just have to-"

Sonda put her hand over his,"There is no time. You must escape…please, Keith…do…what we couldn't. Save…the world…"

Master Sonda closed her eyes and breathed her last. Her hand fell from Keith's. He looked away as his heart clenched. This hadn't been the first time he'd seen someone close to him die, but that didn't make it any easier to watch.

Footsteps and angry shouts alerted the young Avatar that he was about to have company. Keith picked up Sonda's body and moved her to nearby cot in the room, gently folding her hands over her stomach. Then, with one last look toward his master, he donned her cloak and ran.

The soldiers rounded the corner just in time to see him open his glider, jump off the balcony, and fly up and out from the canyon, dodging all of their attacks as he went. Keith was about to book it out of there, only to see the open plain filled with the metal monstrosities called 'tanks'. Soldiers were using them as anchors in order to repel over the cliff and attack the temple.

Keith's blood began to boil, and he acted without a second thought. After landing, he set about flipping over some tanks while others he flung off the cliff, all the while ignoring the burn on his shoulder. He quickly realized, though, that he would never be able to take them all out alone, especially with how fatigued he already was. The only option left was the one he most hated: retreat. Luckily, it seemed that the soldiers were now more concerned with him than the temple. Keith opened his glider and took off, the Firebenders quick to follow.

The young Avatar spared one last look over his shoulder as the only home he'd known for years went up in flames, then turned toward the horizon as the first faint ripples of early morning light crept over the horizon. He didn't know what the next day would bring, or where he would go, but there was one thing he was sure of; Shiro was out there somewhere, and Keith was going to find him. He swore it.


End file.
